April is Minority Health Month, and like many of you, IMCHC will continue to highlight our work to reduce rates in maternal and child health outcomes among populations of color. I hope to see some of you today at the 2012 Minority Health Conference in Naperville where I will be presenting on “Moving from Capacity Building to Policy Implementation”, using our collaborative work on breastfeeding policy as a case study.

As you know, work to address racial/ethnic health disparities statewide requires a fair amount of human and financial resources. Your membership allows us to show colleagues, legislators, and consumers which organizations and individuals align with us to reduce this persistent gap in health outcomes. It also provides us with funds to respond quickly to changing programmatic priorities, based on emerging trends and needs. Additionally, membership allows you a reduced registration rate at our large events and conferences. We thank you for supporting us over the years, and look forward to continued collaborations!

Sincerely,

Janine Lewis
Executive Director

IMCHC Membership

In 2012, we are working to protect vital health care and human services for women, children and families in the state budget, advocate for passage of federal and state legislation to improve health outcomes and access, and engage more youth and women in our advocacy efforts. We do this in the pursuit of reducing maternal and child health mortality and morbidity and improving the quality of life and health care access for families.

Our members are a source of vital support for the important work that we do. The diversity of our members also provides political clout for our requests in Springfield. With your IMCHC membership, you will have the ability to:

Join us tomorrow from 2:00-3:00pm for the first in a series of webinars on the Affordable Care Act and the impact of health care reform on community health care providers. This webinar is a project of Starting Strong Illinois: Collaborating to Implement Health Care Reform.

Who should attend? This webinar will include targeted materials and information for staff of community health centers, Federally Qualified Health Centers, free clinics, school based health centers, and others to enable them to help their clients access income, health, educational, and employment supports.

Who is facilitating? The Illinois Maternal and Child Health Coalition and Health & Disability Advocates combine their experience and expertise in working with community health providers and with the nuts and bolts of state and federal health programs including Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security to bring credible, relevant, and useful information to Illinois providers.

What are the learning objectives? To provide an overview of the Affordable Care Act; Identify how the ACA will affect the lives of individuals and the operations of the health care provider community; and to provide a status report on the implementation efforts in Illinois, including Medicaid reform and the development of the state health insurance exchange.

The Illinois General Assembly is on “spring break” for the first two weeks of April and will resume session on Tuesday, April 17. For a comprehensive list of budget and legislative updates, download IMCHC’s latest policy memo.

Over the past two weeks, IMCHC spoke with legislators on a number of issues related to the state budget, including Medicaid, programs and services for premature infants, and funding for school health centers. IMCHC and dozens of other health advocacy organizations recently signed onto a fact sheet that outlines principles for legislators to keep the Medicaid program stable, while pursuing responsible solutions to save costs and improve patient outcomes.

IMCHC is also working with other advocates to oppose a proposal in Governor Quinn’s FY13 budget that would shorten the lifetime limit for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program from five years to three years. TANF provides direct cash assistance to extremely poor children and their families, helping them to meet basic human needs such as shelter, clothing, and utilities. The basic TANF grant for a family of three is only $432/month. If this change is enacted, 6,000 children would be removed from the TANF rolls immediately. For more information on TANF, download a fact sheet from our website.

Last week, the Supreme Court heard three days of oral arguments on the Affordable Care Act. While it will be several weeks before the final rulings are issued, you can read more about the arguments in a guide published by the Kaiser Family Foundation or a brief from Families USA that provides easy-to-understand summaries of the lawsuits and a history of the cases.

Insurance companies are key stakeholders in health reform; how do they feel about the law? Turns out health insurance companies are starting to see the benefits of reform, including an influx of consumers purchasing their product. Read more about the growing support for the ACA among health insurance companies in ourlatest blog post.